The Kerala board that runs the Sabarimala shrine has dropped a proposal to file a report on its own before the Supreme Court about the recent incidents, possibly after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan trashed the idea.
The Travancore Devaswom Board will file any report on the events that prevented the entry of women into the shrine only if the court asks for it, officials said.
Some members of the Travancore Devaswom Board had earlier suggested that the body file a report before the apex court after the state government decided to implement the court verdict that all women to enter the temple.
But the chief minister had criticised the idea while addressing a public meeting on Tuesday and cautioned the board that such a move would boomerang.
K.P. Shankardas, a member of the temple board, told The Telegraph on Wednesday that the idea was dropped following legal advice. “Yes, there was an idea to file a report. But we sought legal opinion on its practicality and then decided to drop it altogether,” he said.
“Our legal advisers told us there is no constitutional provision to file such a report,” he Shankardas said, hedging a question whether the decision had anything to do with what Vijayan had said.
“Since there are 19 review pleas and three writ petitions pending before the Supreme Court, we are still a respondent in this litigation. So we will file any report if the court orders us to. Otherwise, there is no point in doing something that lacks legal validity,” Shankardas added.
The board had made another flip-flop when its president A. Padmakumar swallowed his own words about filing a review petition to challenge the September 28 Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all ages to enter the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala.
Even on that occasion, the turnaround came after the chief minister opposed the board’s review plan.
“We are already busy planning for the Mandala and Makara Puja seasons (the two-month-long all-important season starting from November 17). So it is better to concentrate on the massive responsibility of preparing all the facilities to receive the lakhs of devotees who would arrive two weeks from now,” Shankardas said.
He said that last year alone more than 85 lakh devotees visited the hill shrine, about 32 lakh from Kerala and the rest from other southern states.
Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran lashed out at the Pandalam royal family, which once owned the temple, for “unnecessary” interventions. “The Pandalam family is saying things it shouldn’t be saying,” he said.
The chief minister had taken a jibe at the family, pointing out that the temple is the property of the Devaswom board which is a state government body.
Palace representative Sasikumar Varma retorted on Wednesday that the temple belonged to the devotees.
But minister Surendran countered: “Yes, the temple is for the devotees. What the chief minister said was about its ownership.”
Varma said the family was not after any wealth of the temple but instead stood for the traditions. “We are not a family that eyes the temple’s wealth. What happened in the past few days is not devotion,” he said.
The law and order situation was triggered by traditionalists, including the Sangh parivar, who were against allowing women of all ages.
The chief minister had earlier accused both the BJP and the Congress of fuelling trouble to reap political benefits by switching from welcoming the apex court verdict to later opposing its implementation.
